Real democracies are populated with active not passive citizens; passivity is characteristic of totalitarian and other oppressive regimes. Prior to any government or ruling body eliminating hard-won liberties and circumventing constitutional rights, the population must necessarily become timid, fearful, apathetic and passive. How simple it becomes to harness and manipulate such a population!

On Oct. 26, the Boston City Council passed a 13-0 resolution in tribute to Rosa Parks and also in support of the Dec. 1 National Day of Absence against Racism, Poverty and War. Activists in New York, Baltimore and Detroit are organizing support in those areas to get a similar resolution passed. In Oakland, Calif., Million Worker March Movement leaders such as Clarence Thomas are discussing a possible Dec. 1 resolution with the city council there.

The idea that western society is a 'chain-of-command' society and that the low intensity wars that happen here are played out by pawns of those wars appears to be a way of seeing what few seem to consider. To see this is to begin to not only understand why the feds have worked so hard to shut down and undermine the IMC projects (because we have here the *threat of a good example*) but also build a basis on which to envision truly serious alternatives.